Review

David Stowell
The Inordinate Claims of a Drunken Dullard :

Halberstadt, , Germany
Publisher: Musikverlag Bruno Uetz
Date of Publication: 2012

Primary Genre: Solo Tenor Trombone - with piano

This is a technically challenging work, and undoubtedly one of a kind. The trombone plays the role of a drunkard, telling wild stories, indulging in self-pity and finally collapsing in a heap. The piano represents his captive audience. It is written in a free atonal style, and in keeping with the scenario, some repetitive patterns are used. Much use is made of flutter-tongue and glissando and ‘off the beat’ irregular rhythms. Overall range spans E–c2 in a mostly mid-range tessitura with wide-intervallic leaps into the high register. One might have expected the piano to play a somewhat submissive role, but in fact, it gets fully on board with the principal protagonist and also has a pretty wild part. Much of the difficulty in this piece will be in achieving good co-ordination between the two players.

Following a career as a professional opera singer in the UK, David Stowell is now a full-time composer. Clearly he has a gift for dramatic characterization and this piece is meant to be entertaining. It was the winner of the 2012 composition competition on The Sons of Sibelius Forum. One has to hope it was not ‘inspired’ by any real-life trombone player.

-Keith Davies Jones
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada